Qtum Price Rallies 60% Ahead of Mainnet Release

Qtum price rose 60% this week ahead of its September 13 main network release and ERC20 token swap.

This rally, which followed last Monday’s China ICO ban sell-off, enabled Qtum to post the best 7-day performance of any top 20 cryptocurrency.

Prior to China’s ICO ban announcement, the Qtum price had soared, raising the token’s market cap above $1 billion. When the crash came, it decimated Qtum. Between September 2 and September 5, the Qtum price fell from above $18 to below $9–a decline of more than 50%.

Qtum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Since that point, the Qtum price has risen more than 60%. In the past day alone, Qtum has surged 14%, making it the only top 20 cryptocurrency to post a double-digit gain. This has occurred even as Chinese exchanges have begun delisting ICO-derived tokens, including Qtum.

At present, Qtum is trading at $14.69, with the vast majority of its volume concentrated on Bithumb. This is significant, especially considering recent statements by Korean regulators that suggest they may also be considering an ICO crackdown.

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Qtum Trading Volume Chart from CoinMarketCap

The primary factor influencing Qtum’s upward trajectory appears to be the impending release of the Qtum network. Qtum is one of several blockchain projects to launch as an ERC20 token while the project is in development.

Qtum aims to serve as a business-friendly smart contracts platform. To this end, it incorporates aspects of both the bitcoin and ethereum infrastructure models, along with a proof of stake consensus algorithm. Significantly, it received the support of consulting firm PwC.

Qtum raised about $16 million during a March ICO and will officially release on September 13. Once the Qtum mainnet is live, users will be able to swap their ERC20 tokens for mainnet tokens.

Although Qtum’s double-digit gain was an outlier, the crypto markets were generally positive today. After beginning the day at $143.7 billion, the total value of all cryptocurrencies has ticked up about 2% to $146.3 billion.

Posted by Josiah Wilmoth

Josiah is a former ancient and medieval literature teacher. He has been writing about cryptocurrency since 2014, and his work has been cited in Business Insider, NPR, and Yahoo! Finance. He lives in rural North Carolina with his wife and son. Email him directly at [email protected]